Assam Police has arrested eight people, including a Bangladeshi national, and foiled an attempt to carry out terrorist activities across the country, officials said.Senior police officer Harmeet Singh said that the accused were arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) from Assam, West Bengal and Kerala under ‘Operation Praghat’ on the night of 17-18 December.
According to the police, those arrested had handlers in Pakistan and Bangladesh and claimed that they were planning to kill Hindu and RSS leaders.Singh told the news agency that the operation was launched after detailed investigation of intelligence inputs “about anti-national activities being carried out by a group of persons” under the direction of Mohammad Farhan Israq.
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He said Israq is a close associate of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS)-affiliated Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) chief Jasimuddin Rahmani.
The official further said that Bangladeshi national Mohammad Shab Shaikh alias Mohammad Saad Radi was sent to India in November to spread his ideology and conduct sleeper operations among like-minded individuals across India to carry out violent and subversive actions. Can make a cell. Radi visited Assam and West Bengal to meet sleeper cell members of the banned ABT organisation, after which he went to Kerala to meet other sleeper cell members.
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“The STF conducted the operation under the direct supervision of its chief Partha Sarathi Mahanta and teams were sent to different parts of the country to identify jihadi elements. Arrests were made during the simultaneous operation in Kerala, West Bengal and Assam,” the SDGP said. ” He said five people were arrested in Assam, two in West Bengal and one in Kerala.
Four others were detained from Kokrajhar district but were released after questioning as no evidence was found of their involvement in the incident, he said. Singh said several documents and mobile phones were seized from the accused, indicating their continuous communication with Bangladesh and Pakistan-based entities over the past few months.
“Texts containing distorted religious beliefs related to Jihad, religious books with distorted narratives printed and published in Bangladesh, four pen drives and various Bangladeshi certificates issued in the name of Mohammad Saad Radi have also been seized from the accused,” he said.
Singh said they were working to set up sleeper cells across the country, especially in Assam and West Bengal. Two of the arrested suspects had visited several places in West Bengal in an attempt to recruit more people to join terrorist organizations. The officer said their aim was to incite religious tension in the area and disrupt communal harmony. “These people were actively involved in the procurement of arms and ammunition as part of a larger conspiracy to wage war against the Government of India,” he said. He said that further investigation is going on.